STEP BACK WALLACE AND GROMIT!...the king and his lil peepuwles are here!

This is the final animation which took quite a while but in the end it paid off. I have to challenge myself by using plasticine and the outcome was good! I think i could have done a lot better if i had more time on my hands. The reason being is because i thought i was able to lend out a camera during the easter holidays but the uni was shut though out uni so i had to wait until it was open...on the last week. so i practically only had 3/4 days to start and finish the animation. But between the holidays i prepared myself by creating the characters and patterned backgrounds.

Story of the animation


We had to create a story by using/listening to a certain soundtrack (mine was tribal). we also had to come up with 3 different words which relate to the story and soundtrack. So i picked king, bounce and shake.

The story of this animation is very abstract. It shows the characters dancing and the person in the middle eventually becomes king whilst the little people watch on. Eventually the little fellas work off then the king becomes confused as to what is going on. So he carries on his dance, but then the crown jumps off his head and falls to the floor, then the main character shakes away...whilst the backdrop carries on shaking.

I wanted to relate the to the idea of basquaits work which has the quote of  'all kings must get their heads chopped off' so i took this idea want manipulated it into my own version, and made it humorous for the audience.

The crown is the most emphasized in the animation, as it starts off by shaking...and ends off by sitting up-side down.

Target Audience

The target audience is important to me, which is why i wanted the animation to be for everyone, hence the story behind it. I wanted people to look at this animation and laugh, but because the animation is very abstract i still want them to think what is the story behind it. I would say the audience is mainly for children but is for everyone, because of the humor created.

I feel i have clearly shown the three signs of king, bounce and shake!

KING: is the main object which i think is important simply because of the story.

BOUNCE: is shown though-out the animation. The music has lead me to put bounce as the three chosen words. The bounce is the most important when listening to this soundtrack. It is also shown through the characters as well as the background.

SHAKE: Shake is similar to bounce but bounce is only categorized to the characters not the background patterns. The shake is only shown from the characters movement.  

Parts of the animation

These are scenes from part of the animation which i have collected as samples/storyboard. This shows the character moving away from the scene but have left it there on purpose to make my story fit together.   

fonts at the end

This was done by cutting up letters from card and placing them on the board. Took a picture and the slightly moved it, to get a nudge effect. This was then placed in aftereffects with the other frames(characters). Only having to images as frames isn't enough, so i came up with the idea of copying/pasting it about X4 to get a long lasting nudge effect.

Some sketched expressions created

 Images of how i will go about the movement with the background.

 Sketches of the background movement. I have used only 3 movement for the patterned background. 1) being in the middle, 2) first batch moving up (whilst second batch facing down) 3) second batch moving up (whilst first batch facing down) visa-versa!

 old lips i had created which we not that effective, so i had to sketch out mouth expressions.

 Images of the different expression on the characters

 Some background pattern shapes i have created which i have considered.

 This is a quick plan/idea i am going for. something which isn't to simple yet has a great interaction with the audience.  

 Lots of mouth expressions created!

 These are sketches of the expressions for the king. To get a sense of expressions i simply listened to the track i am using and started to sing with it and captured the expressions i create with the different words.

 More expressions which could work well in the animation. Also showing the kings expressions.

Small sketches of characters used in the animation. Focusing on the facial expressions. This is a vital asset when having a person speaking/singing, too make it look more realistic.

This is a small timeline which has helped me to synchronize the lip movement with the actual person singing in the track. I have done this by pausing it every time a person speaks, then jotting down the time it was puased at. And also jotted down the time it ends, so i get an idea of when i can swap the mouth with a still version, vise-vera. This has helped me focus on getting the lips in sync with the track. 

 what the brief is asking from me

 small ideas for patterns.

 Art from Kandinsky which influenced me through the animation process.

 Apocalypto 

This is the movie Apocalypto which i think, relates with the tribal soundtrack, The scene where he runs from the baddies particularly relates to the track. 

 Work from Saul Bass which has also also influenced me. The colour used also suits the theme off the intro

 Catch me if you can

Here is research on catch me if you can which has been my influence throughout the prject. The animation they produce is simple yet effective.

 Pattern designs

Focusing on colour and layout. I quite like the effect of the raggedy style which relates well with the beat of the soundtrack.

 small ideas, whether to go for a "looking-down" or "looking face on" effect. I decided to go for a facing down effect simply because i had small parts coming from plain spaces. I wouldn't have able to have created this by having the camera "straight on".

process of the final

character with the background. I wanted to see what contrast/effect i'd be able to create.

Characters and patterned backgrounds with the main backdrop.

The different expressions against the back-drop

Process of making the blinking out of black plasticine where i simply made a "V" shape.

These are the different Lip/expressions i have created for the 4 little characters. These were swapped around each time they sang, which was slightly repetitive yet time consuming but in the end it was effective.

Having a look at what the blinking looks like with the other characters

I went with a 2d shaped crown rather than a 3d crown, simply because it was awkward for me to move it around. 

The white blob is the other part of the eye which only occurs when the crown is topped onto his head. This is swapped quickly when the crown comes down.

I would have used the studio which is in the uni, but because timing was slightly rinsed out, i set up my own little studio. I had to use a tripod for the camera. The camera was placed downwards so i was able to create  a shot without it being fuzzy.

My lil setup! I had to keep the little parts clost to me so i could quickly swap them, for every shot

This is the show of the backgrounds.

looking at mouth sync techniques/movement + chicken run

Movement from the LIPS!

I have realised the lips i have produced on the below posts...it seems to look quite basic, so i have researched into the important vowels and letters which are spoken. 

Chicken run

This is a trailer for chicken run, where it shows some form on movement from the lips. This will help me produce mouths when i come do produce mine.

background experimentation

Experimenting with background design (with colour)

These are the colour background patterns i have considered for the main back-drop. I have placed the character above the patterned design to see what effect i could create and to see which design/colour would go best with the model. I wanted something which contrasts well with the model.

Testing out different options:

brown/green

Experimenting with the colour yellow.

This is a simple process of penciling out the design on card, then fine-lining it out...the cutting out the shape.

circular pattern

testing out different colours together

........

again more testing....yellow and brown

............brown and red

...........red and yellow....